Kenya's Free Money Experiment

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thousands of Kenyan villagers are being given free cash as part of a huge trial being run by an American non-profit, GiveDirectly. Why? Some aid organisations believe that simply giving people money is one of the most effective ways to tackle extreme poverty and boost development. After all, they argue, local people themselves know best how to use the funds to improve their lives. But does it work? Is it really a long term solution? In 2018, the BBC visited a Kenyan village whose residents received money at the start of the trial. Five years on, the BBC’s Mary Harper returns to see what’s changed. Photo: Woman frying fish in village in western Kenya (BBC) Reporter: Mary Harper Producer: Alex Last Studio Manager: Graham Puddifoot Series Editor: Penny Murphy Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross With special thanks to Fred Ooko

Transcript

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0:00.0	15 years ago, 23-year-old Norwegian student Martina Vick Magnussen was killed in an apartment near Mephe.
0:07.0	23-year-old Martina Vick Magnussen was found partially buried in the basement.
0:12.0	Before being questioned, the only suspect in the case had fled the UK to Yemen.
0:17.0	I made a promise to Martina's family to find out what happened.
0:21.0	Murder in Mephe, part of the documentary, find it wherever you get your BBC podcast.
0:30.0	3-year-old Martina Vick Magnussen was killed in the basement.
0:33.0	3-year-old Martina Vick Magnussen was killed in the basement.
0:36.0	3-year-old Martina Vick Magnussen was killed in the basement.
0:39.0	3-year-old Martina Vick Magnussen was killed in the basement.
0:42.0	Sheltered from the rain in a small dark room with mud walls and a metal roof,
0:47.0	a line of women sing their hearts out, swaying in time.
0:51.0	Eyes fixed on the choir master, whose hands fly gracefully through the air
0:56.0	as his signals where the hymn should go.
0:59.0	Some have reason to rejoice here in Western Kenya's CIA County.
1:07.0	A massive experiment is underway.
1:09.0	Tens of thousands of people in dozens of villages are being given money quite literally for free.
1:16.0	No strings attached.
1:18.0	My life before I had worries.
1:21.0	But now I feel so excited. I'm very happy.
1:25.0	These are changed in the village.
1:28.0	They are really happy. They were not expecting that.
1:31.0	It will now they are still happy.
	...

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